According to ABC’s John Berman, one reason that crooks in Texas have been bilking hospitals out of money is because they’re "fed up" with the health care system. During a segment on Wednesday’s "Good Morning America," the correspondent filed a report on successful, financially stable individuals who pretend to be poor in order to avoid paying their health insurance related hospital fees. Berman couldn’t help but give their actions a political motive:
Video (1:14): Real (2.08 MB) or Windows (2.32 MB) or MP3 (554 kB).
John Berman: "As egregious as this sounds, it may be another example of how fed up people are with the health care system. One survey found one in ten people believe it's okay to submit false claims or collect when you don't deserve it."
Now, keep in mind, these are not destitute individuals stealing bread to feed their starving families. As Berman pointed out in his August 15 story, the people accused include successful businessmen and women, an owner of a chain of Subway restaurants is but one example. One couple is in the process of paying back $46,000 in medical costs stolen from Parkland Memorial Hospital. Berman himself called them "liars preying on charity." So, perhaps, these individuals didn't commit their crimes as a way of protesting the American health care system.
GMA viewers shouldn’t be surprised at liberal bias slipping into odd segments. In April, the program’s medical expert, Dr. Tim Johnson, praised the universal health care program of Senator Ted Kennedy. The Business and Media Institute has also covered ABC’s slanted take on health care.
—Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center.
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The old "Trading Places" Philosophy
August 15, 2007 - 12:03 ET by exLibThe philosophy that permeates Hollywood and most liberals is best illustrated in the movie Trading Places.
All you have to do is be "poor" and you'll do anything, on the flip-side of course, if you are "Rich" you will automatically "act" Rich!!
What a crock!
I'm very fed up with the
August 15, 2007 - 12:09 ET by Jack BauerI'm very fed up with the banking system and the interest they insist on charging on my overdraft.
Back later, just off to rob my local bank.
Umm, you mean just like
August 15, 2007 - 12:24 ET by dscottUmm, you mean just like Medicare and Medicaid fraud where doctors, hospitals, etc. were submitting false claims to bilk the government run system??? Hey, dolt, shifty people will give you any excuse that you will "buy", Caveat Emptor, to rationalize why they shouldn't be punished. A national health insurance scheme will have exactly the same problems and a huge bureaucracy to miss all those false claims. Next I suppose you will tell me there is no Welfare fraud or Social Security fraud because they are government run programs as well? Under that idiotic logic we should nationalize the insurance industry (life and property) to eliminate fraud.
Instead, why don't you address the real problem, that being more than one price for the same procedure. Medicare gets charged the least, insurance companies get a discount and the uninsured get charged the most and then skip on the bill. The health care providers are forced to give three different prices because they know the people who get charged the full price ultimately will not pay, so they pass on that unpaid expense to the health insurance companies and the government. Insurance companies get their discount because the health care providers have to jack up the price to give them a discount. This is like a store raising its prices 50% and then advertising a 30% off sale. As long as there are humans, there will be fraud.
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. Marcus Aurelius
Perhaps they were sick and
August 15, 2007 - 13:10 ET by jiminjerseyPerhaps they were sick and tired of paying ridiculously high taxes and getting nothing for their money while those who are here illegally bilk the system for tens of thousands of dollars in social care.
Not surprised...
August 15, 2007 - 13:51 ET by Maverick313I am not all that surprised to find that there are well off folks bilking the health care system. I myself have thought of going into a ER and saying that I am an "immigrant" without healthcare. If they get free medical attention, why can't I? I don't agree with what these people did by no means, but how can the hospital want to stick it to these people and not to others that go to them for a minor cut or scrape?
If you stopped providing care to people that go to ER's with minor abrasions then you wouldn't have the countries hospitals going bankrupt. I am tired of footing the bill for people who are taking away my social security (that I won't even get to use, but am paying for), using welfare and WIC as a way of life rather than a stepping stone to getting on their feet.
Maybe I should stop working at a job that pays into SS and Medicare and get paid under the table and get everything for free. If others can do it why can't I? OH! That's right... my parents raised me with a sense of morals and responsibility. Not to have babies and make the government pay for them. I try not to hate people but looking at how our government coddles illegals and criminals but makes the regular US citizen foot the bill... I can't help the feeling.
Bottom line... STOP PROVIDING MEDICAL CARE TO PEOPLE WITH NO SS# OR DL, THERE WILL BE NO MORE BILKING OF THE BILL, AND REGULAR TAX PAYERS WILL HAVE LOWER HEALTH COSTS!
Mav, I agree that people
August 15, 2007 - 13:55 ET by LeonMav,
I agree that people should not get free healthcare while others pay. Trust me I hate nothing more than to have to pay for something while somebody else gets a free ride. Unfortunately, this creates a moral quandry.
If you're running an ER and an illegal immigrant with no healthcare comes in with a life threatening injury, are you going to let them DIE simply b/c they don't have healthcare?
What do you want the hospitals to do?
You're looking at the problem the wrong way. The issue isn't illegals without healthcare, the issue is the presence of the illegals in the first place. If we held employers accountable and enforced our current immigration laws, we might not have to face a situation where many illegals are receiving free medical care.
I agree Leon, being
August 15, 2007 - 14:46 ET by dscottI agree Leon, being proactive would have saved us lots of money and avoided the problem in the first place. And it's not just the health care system, it's over crowding in the jails some 100,000+ foreigners at $50k/year, it's the schooling of their kids for those millions of illegals, it goes on and on. Most of us are fed up with the lame excuses of jobs Americans won't do (while we have 6.8 million unemployed) from the silver spoon section of the Repub Party and the ballot box stuffing vote fraud demanded by the Dem Party. This is an unholy alliance we aim to stamp out. Phase 1 is complete - defeat of Shamnesty; Phase 2 come the primaries, we toss all those who voted for this nonsense and blocked the fence funding. Unfortunately, we won't get them all this time around from the Senate side, but we will at least laser in on the House side.
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. Marcus Aurelius
What it all means
August 15, 2007 - 13:51 ET by nkviking75John Berman: "As egregious as this sounds, it may be another example..." That's journo-speak for, "I can't back this up with any evidence, but I'm going to inject my own opinion and/or speculation anyway." Or put another way, "Here's a clear signal that my reporting is not reliable."
When you put the clowns in charge, don't be surprised when a circus breaks out.
Or nkviking75
August 15, 2007 - 20:10 ET by SportPoliticsOr nk, it means:
It's not that egregious, it only sounds bad, since so many others are fed up with Goerge Bush and the neocons anti health anti evironment kill murder war mentality. We NEED Hillary healthcare. Please vote accordingly.
Non sequitur
August 15, 2007 - 20:20 ET by nkviking75SP, a fine example of a non sequitur.
When you put the clowns in charge, don't be surprised when a circus breaks out.
Crime???
August 16, 2007 - 10:39 ET by River CityWhat happened to calling a crime a crime? Isn't this stealing? If You provide me a service and I fail to pay you for it isn't that stealing? Why is it different at a hospital? They got the service and then . . . . . .
Put 'em in jail!
“You don’t understand. I am a queen, and I demand to be treated like a queen.” Representative Sheila Jackson Lee D-TX